18 comments:

I'm a little burned out on what must be a deliberate misunderstanding of the "Mission Accomplished" banner that has people so exercised.

A campaign, in this case defined as a war, is comprised of multiple missions. It is quite possible, and desireable, to accomplish many missions in the course of a campaign.

The aircraft carrier in question had, in fact, accomplished its mission. No one ever stated that the campaign to liberate Iraq was accomplished at that time. In fact, direct quotes to the opposite are not very difficult to find.

Daveg-- I'll freely concede anyone can pick apart the two examples I gave. It's not worth beginning an entire new thread of argument.

My point was simply that using Alfred E. Neuman as a Bush comparison doesn't imply Bush is stupid, but rather that he is unconcerned. I don't for a moment think Bush is stupid, and I doubt Hillary Clinton misunderestimates Bush's intelligence, either.

I agree, Mrs. Clinton probably doesn't misunderestimate President Bush. But she is playing to her base, which does think Bush is stupid.

Of course, they think that any Republican president is stupid, as are anyone who votes for them.

That said, I am not sure if intelligence, as it is typically measured is the best metric by which to measure the abilities of a president or presidential candidate. Her husband was probably the smartest president of my lifetime. But that clearly doesn't make him the best. Indeed, I would suggest that it may have been one of the factors that made him one of the worst.

While Mrs. Clinton may not be quite as smart as her husband, she is no dummy, by any means - Yale Law school graduation is quite an achievement. But that doesn't mean that she will be a good president.

"Ours will be the last generation to rely so exclusively on fossil fuels," she said, adding that the "ups and downs of the global oil market cost the U.S. economy $7 trillion last year ... almost enough to pay off our entire national debt."

"At some point during this period, President Cinton expressed his frustration with the lack of military options to take out Bin Ladin and the al Qaeda leadership, remarking to General Hugh Shelton, 'You know, it would scare the shit out of al-Qaeda if suddenly a bunch of black ninjas rappelled out of helicopters into the middle of their camp.' Although Shelton told the Commission he did not remember the statement, President Clinton recalled this remark as 'one of the many things I said.'"

Alfred E. Neumann always struck me as being witty and clever, despite his lack of good looks. In fact, he was considered so wise that every issue of MAD had a quotation of his above the table of contents. If Bush is Alfred, then Hillary is starting to resemble Roger Kaputnik - always complaining about non-existent ailments!